


Two Conversations, or: Trust in Times of War

by wegoodandevilthings



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, thorki-friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 07:52:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14637399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wegoodandevilthings/pseuds/wegoodandevilthings
Summary: Bruce Banner learns more about how Gods work.Two conversations that should happen for the Screenrant theory, that Loki poses as Banner in IW (originally by Josh Dickey, expanded on by Thomas Bacon, posted on May 11), to work - one post-Ragnarok, one during the opening scene of Infinity War.





	Two Conversations, or: Trust in Times of War

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the post on screenrant (originally by Josh Dickey, expanded on by Thomas Bacon, posted on May 11), about how Loki poses as Banner during Infinity War. I don't think that's what actually happened (unfortunately), but it's a fun thought experiment. But for that theory to work, I feel like we need a bit of a set up.
> 
> Unbeta'd, my apologies.

**There is one conversation that has to happen first:**

  
The first time Bruce Banner and Loki talked alone was an accident and certainly not something Bruce had planned in any way. He picked up his tray and walked over to Thor's usual table in the mess hall of the Statesman, so concentrated on not spilling anything or running into a rambunctious, Asgardian kid, that he didn't notice that the only person sitting there was Loki. Valkyrie walked past him, an apple in hand, nodding at him before flouncing off.

  
He almost stopped short and sat down somewhere else, when he realized he was being stupid. Avoiding the guy wouldn't help in the long run, only show to the others that there was a rift between them. Loki was concentrating on something a few tables further down and showed no sign of noticing him. If Loki could be civilized – and he had been the past few times their group had spoken or eaten together – then Bruce could be, too.

  
"Thor already eaten?" he asked as he sat down, sparing them both an awkward hello.

  
"Yes," Loki answered, taking a quick, interested glance up. One corner of his mouth lifted in a wonky welcoming smile. Then he turned back to whatever he had been looking at before. Bruce dug into his meal and sneaked a glance in that direction.

  
A small rub between Loki's fingers, a whispered word, and a few tables further down, someone yelped. Bruce tried hard not to show a reaction. It appeared to not have worked, because Loki focused on him next. "Got something to say, Banner?"

  
Bruce shook his head. Then he reconsidered. "Does this amuse you? Riling people up? This… whatever you're doing?"

  
Loki took a moment to reply. When he did, he asked, "Do you know what I am the god of?"

  
Bruce frowned. "Chaos? According to…"

  
"Mischief," Loki murmured. "Lies." He picked up his tea spoon and twirled it on its head before letting go and watching it magically twirl on its own. "Do you know what Thor is the god of?"

  
That, Bruce could answer with confidence. "Thunder."

  
"Exactly. Do you know when Thor is at his most powerful? When he creates lightning, when he soaks up the ozone in the air during a storm." It sounded intimate, the way he said it. He pointed at Bruce. "You're more powerful when you're angrier."

  
Bruce made the connection quickly. "So you're like a battery that needs… mischief?"

  
Loki smiled. The spoon tilted a fraction, causing the spoon to spin out of control and clatter to the floor where it hit someone's shoe as they walked past. "I can't explain it. No one…" He halted for a moment, just long enough to make Bruce worry, but then he continued.

  
"The pantheon is vast. Gods were created for a reason, but no one knows why. Why is Thor the God of Thunder? Why not of sunshine? I can't tell you what happened to make me what I am. I only know that it's in my nature to be contrary."

  
Bruce frowned. He was not a fan of nature versus nurture, didn't believe that some things couldn't be avoided, but then, who was he to say? His genes made him a straight, white man, who was in equal parts smart and angry. So why wouldn't godhood be in someone's genes? Why wouldn't chaos be prescribed like sexuality or eye color or some inevitable genetic illness?

  
"I spent years tricking the people of Asgard thinking I was Odin and you know what? It made my magic more powerful than it has ever been." There was a sadness in Loki's tone that Bruce couldn't place or understand.

  
"He even managed to put the Allfather under a spell," Thor's voice suddenly came from behind and above Bruce. He turned around and watched Thor come around the table to sit next to Loki, his own tray full.  
Bruce looked at Loki, surprised, "You said he'd-" He interrupted himself. _God of Lies. God of Mischief._ Thor hadn't eaten yet.

  
Thor smiled at him patiently, like he was watching someone figure out an easy puzzle. He leaned into Loki for a moment, the look they shared warm and secretive. Banner couldn't even begin to decipher that. "Understanding my brother takes practice, Banner," Thor murmured then, careful with his phrasing.

  
"Does that mean, you can never trust him to tell you the truth? That's ridiculous. How can anyone…" _-live like that?_ He couldn't make sense of Loki. The guy was obviously smart. He was charming and could talk rings around anyone. But always lying and causing mischief, to the detriment of… well, everything else really – that was just not smart. That was stupid. It was illogical.

  
It was illogical and petty and childish and a lot of other things – and yet, when it counted, Loki was obviously there for his people. When it counted, Bruce had heard, he was even ready to give his life for his brother's then-girlfriend. Loki, as a whole, made no sense to Bruce. But then, sitting here, all around them he could see the people of Asgard, whom Loki had betrayed probably hundreds of times over his lifetime, and none of them looked at their table with hatred or suspicion.

  
Bruce felt like he was behind all of them, catching up with thousands of year of Asgardian culture in this one conversation.

  
"Does your brother trust you?" he asked Loki. "Do you trust him?" he asked Thor in the same breath.

  
"Sometimes with my life," Thor answered before Loki could say anything. "And sometimes not at all. It depends – on the day, on the situation, on the topic," he said with a shrug. "I have fifteen hundred years of experience and I still get him wrong a lot of the time."

  
"Sounds exhausting."

  
"He's my brother," Thor said in a tone that forbade any argument.

  
Bruce thought that the expression on Loki's face in that moment almost hurt physically. Before he could apologize for his apparent faux pas, Loki spoke up.

  
"When I was younger, there were many times when I wished I was God of something else. Something that didn't cause so much strife." He looked at Thor with a heavy smile. It didn't sound like he had said that out loud before. "Something better. Mother was the Goddess of Wisdom and Foreknowledge, you know."

  
Thor shook his head, grinning, first at Bruce, then at his brother. "Loki, God of Small Woodland Creatures."

  
Loki elbowed him.

  
"Loki, God of Truth," Thor murmured then, almost too quiet for Bruce to hear. "In this world you would be weak, brother. I would have you lie to me a thousand times than be a half-starved god. Cause mischief, cause chaos, speak lies, but never hate yourself for what the Norns made you."

  
That ended the conversation. They moved on to different topics then, to pipes and the water supply and food rations. Bruce felt he needed many more hours of this type of serious conversation to fully understand what was going on with this guy, but he didn't regret taking his seat there that day. It turned into the first of a few quiet dinners.

 

  
+

 

  
**That conversation had to happen, for this one to be possible:**

  
When the fight started, Loki knew he needed to plan this right. His plans didn't always work out, in fact they rarely did, but he had conjured this one out of the deepest bowels of chaos. It had to work.

  
Thor took one look at him and nodded. "This had better be good," he just said with absolute trust in his brother in that situation. Heimdall just adjusted his sword without even bothering to agree. He had probably seen sincerity where Loki had thought there was none to find anymore.

  
When Thor and Heimdall had left, Banner followed them with his eyes as they ran off, before turning back to Loki. "This is one of those situations? One of those moments?"

  
Loki smiled. "No," he lied, tasting the distrust in Banner's eyes like fresh strawberry on his tongue. The taste was gone too quickly. It changed to something blander as soon as Banner had convinced himself that Loki was just playing. The ship shook around them.

  
"I trust you. Now. Today. Right here," Banner said then, a wonky, scared smile on his lips. Next to him, Valkyrie looked like she agreed. Maybe it was Banner's influence, but she was listening.

  
"I'll need your help," Loki replied. He had a plan. A chaotic, insane plan that would scatter them across the universe and most likely cost thousands of lives before hopefully leading to victory. First, they had to evade and avoid. He assumed Banner would have read the greatest Midgardian battle strategist and would know what he meant when he laid out his plan. Valkyrie had hundreds of battles behind her as well. They trusted him. _Thor_ trusted him. He found himself desperate to not disappoint any of them.

  
As soon as Hulk attacked and Loki had tackled Thor out of the way, he moved the pieces. The chessboard shifted unnoticeably, too quickly for anyone to notice. A trickery here, a lie there, mischief caused, and the last piece settled into place. With the Hulk's eyes, he saw one last glimpse of his brother before Heimdall sent him to Earth with the last of his power.

  
He raced along the Bifrost, the God of Mischief and Lies on his way to Midgard, about to lie to everyone he would meet there. He was sorry that he had to use such an old trick again and he worried that the things his puppet had said to Thor had been too vague to give his brother much hope, but it was their only shot. If they wanted to defeat Thanos, Valkyrie and Banner had to get away with the rest of the Asgardians, and Loki had to find a way to gather enough of his power for the fight against Thanos.

  
They just had to hold out until Thanos had won the first few battles to win the war. He gathered what strength he had left as he arrived on Midgard, right where he had planned, at Doctor Strange's and yelled in Banner's unfamiliar voice, "Thanos… he's coming!"


End file.
